Joe Bonamassa at O2 Academy Glasgow

OMG tht ws grt...

...as they'd say in the online world of the interweb.

Last night I went with my Dad to see Joe Bonamassa rock the O2 Academy in Glasgow. Who's Joe Bonamassa? Well, despite the lack of mainstream attention, he's widely considered the most significant, and perhaps even the best, guitarist on the planet today, and that's not restricted merely to the blues music he so excels in.

Looking around the room last night, the first thing I noticed was the average age of the audience. It was older than the usual crowd at the Academy. Blues is anything but mainstream, particularly in these times, immersed as we are in a depressingly one track music industry driven by the X-Factory and a sold-out MTV. In these times, I worry that not enough new people appreciate blues music, that even more so than before, it's been pushed to one side by a myopic industry bent solely on sucking cash from a succession of homogenous hits. Despite that though, Bonamassa managed to pack out the Academy, which is testament to the bridge I hope he's beginning to build.

I'm not concerned if you don't like blues music - we all like different things - but what I will say is that if you like music, you should give Bonamassa a chance. Head over to YouTube (interesting to see an older audience last night more focussed solely on enjoying the experience and leaving only a few tragic souls to record the gig for uploading) or iTunes, have a listen and see if you get hooked on the man's unparalled speed and technique, the breathtaking solos and inspiring lyrics.

To watch him last night was to watch utter perfection, and I could have stayed there all night, and I remember a few moments when, despite the deafening noise of the appreciative crowd, there'd be a slight pause, a gasp of air right at the end of a song or a solo, kind of like did he just do that?!!

Just a magnificent night my Dad and I will remember for years to come. I'm off to snap up his new album, The Ballad of John Henry and air guitar until the air can take no more!

Yey - You can now email us...

As time goes on, the number of people downloading and lapping up our little podcasting venture into comedy cyberspace has been increasing. Increasing, that is, to a fair proportion notwithstanding that in real life, on the streets and putrid gutters of Glasgow, we remain social outcasts. We're like Ant & Dec when they tried to break the US, walking the streets without recognition but in the knowledge that somewhere else in the world, we're like Kings!

However, until now it's appeared that we've been attracting only comedy voyeurs, listeners who like to listen and laugh but remain comfortably in the darkness, away from the light of the stage and the stand-up's searching gaze.

Well, we're accepting this no more!

We want questions. We want comments. We want pictures. We want videos. We want you to start sending us all this to our new email address at fortheloveofglasgowpodcast@googlemail.com.

Gonnae just email us eh?

The Seventeenth: "Sting"

The Seventeenth: "Sting".

In our newly contact lense-free show, we celebrate Earth Day by investigating its link with Vladimir Lenin's birthday, and unsurprisingly explore the real Susan's Boil Story from Britain's Next Top Model. Alan terrifies us with his wasp sting debacle, his grocery shopping in Morrisons and his usual insightful movie and restaurant review section including the delights of Knowing and Stravaigin.

We also yap about Jedi Cops in Glasgow and arguably the best guitarist on the planet, Joe Banana Sandwich, who'll be playing the O2 Academy in Glasgow. Our Glasgow indie music of this show comes courtesy of the fantastic Shimmer (www.myspace.com/shimmeruk), and another link we ask you to check out is Kyle Murdoch's Breast Cancer Cycle of Britain at twitter.com/whitelilyfund.

New Ship of Comedy Doom on the Horizon

Fresh from a blissful break from all things Internet this last week, we're absolutely 100% raring to go now. So the Seventeenth show will be a day late.

We'll be recording on Wednesday instead of Tuesday this time, so it should be available to download on Thursday, if that makes sense. The reason for the delay is that tomorrow evening, Alan is being given a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award for the Advancement of Scottish Comedy. The award ceremony is being held at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and is being hosted by Mr. T. I'm not sure if there are any public seating tickets left for the ceremony, but did hear that they're selling pretty fast on eBay, albeit at a mark up of at least 300%.

This week in our show we'll be talking about lots of things. In the last couple of weeks there's been a great deal of conversation pieces like the G20 protestor Ian Tomlinson, the Britain's Got Non Visual Talent of Susan Boyle, and the story about Jedi Cops in Glasgow.

But we won't talk about any of that, and more than likely will focus instead on filling out the silence with loads of pointless jingles involving me destroying the American accent.

Signing Out

Just to let you know that I'm deplugging for a week. No blogs, tweets or anything connected with the World Wide Interweb.

Need to cleanse my system. Thanks again for the interest in the podcast etc., and I'll be back again soon buzzing with energy.

Peace Out!

The Sixteenth: "Poke"

The Sixteenth: "Poke".

Here we are again with a putrid pile of nonsense. There's stuff in there about Alan's worthwhile 24th birthday celebrations, a sterling review on the Damned United movie, and we trot out an exclusive statement received from National Hero Barry Ferguson. More, as always, on Alfie Patten, and continuing on our intellectual learning curve, we try to understand the reasoning behind the recent G20 protests as well as Andy Murray's stated hatred of boozing.

Finally, Alan provides a summary of the Original Easter Parable for those of our listeners going to hell, and our Glaswegian independent guest band this time around is the outstanding Casino Brag (www.myspace.com/casinobrag).

Happy Egg Rolling and Chocolate Weekend!

What connects the G20 protests with Barry Ferguson?

No doubt you'll find out tomorrow once our new episode of the podcast is uploaded.

Tonight when we record it, we intend to explore the darkly lit caverns of truth which the world's media has whimpered away from, led away like the village idiot by the comforting hand of Rupert Murdoch and his cohorts.

Tonight we will discuss nothing less than the disturbing connection between seemingly independent current events, a connection hidden in the wind from the collective consciousness, but unearthed bloodily by myself and Alan in the last few days. Yes, we're like the modern day equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein!

The G20 protests, the chaotic uprising against Barry Ferguson and Alan McGregor, the sadly mistaken tale of little Alfie Patten, and the end of Lent. Stories woven together in a transparent weave of hatred.

The truth will out. Listen in tomorrow, and for the first time in your life we'll prise open your mind to what's really going on in the world today. Oh, and there'll also be some nice music in there from Casino Brag, another one of Glasgow's finest independent bands.

So clear your diary!

Singin' on yer Mammy's Knee

Who in Scotland hasn't fallen asleep on their Mammy's knee to this one at some point in their life? I broke a tooth last week when I fell off!

A Bunch of April Fools

It's 1st April, and you know what that means don't you?

Another round of hastily thought out April Fool pranks. To be honest, I had been thinking of convincing our listeners as a joke that we were stopping the show, that our little venture into cyberspace was at an end.

I stopped myself from doing that though, because it occurred to me that if I had done that, there would likely have been a huge swell of support for the idea, and perhaps even some collective sighing of relief around the world, not least from the guy I do the podcast with - He Who Doesn't Want To Be Mentioned Or Associated With This.

So I'll be abstaining from April Fools Day, and just to spite you, will spend it instead preparing for our next show!